Characterizing sexual decision-making using a modified discounting paradigm
The goal of this line of research is to develop a laboratory measure of sexual decision-making using a modifed delay and probability discounting paradigm. Research is ongoing, but our findings to date suggest that we can evoke and characterize decisions regarding sexual outcomes using the delay and probability discounting tasks. Further research will address issues of ecological validity of the measure in addition to improving the extent to which the measure accurately captures the behavioral aspects of risky sexual decisions. Specifically, this task will characterize choice preferences when a risk factor (e.g., risk of STD exposure) is juxtaposed with a reward factor (e.g., sexual contact).
Influence of procedural factors on frequency of nonsytematic responding in the delay and probability discounting tasks
This project, which is funded by two internal grants through ISU, actually consists of two distince projects aimed at examining whether different procedural factors may influence to frequency of nonsystematic response patterns in delay and probability discounting paradigms. In one study, we will examine whether the use of real versus hypothetical monetary outcomes generate differential rates of nonsystematic response patterns. In a second study, we will examine whether the size of the monetary outcome (small, medium, large) influences the frequency of nonsystematic response patterns in the discounting paradigm.
Influence of sexual arousal on impulsive and risky decisions using the discounting paradigm
Sherman Normandin's doctoral dissertation examines whether undergraduate men exposed to different amounts of erotica, which will induce a state of sexual arousal, will be associated with more risky or impulsive choice patterns concerning erotica using the erotica discounting paradigm developed in this laboratory.
Using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to elicit sexual and non-sexual risk behavior in the laboratory
The purpose of this study is to examine whether risk-taking behavior for sexual (erotica) and monetary outcomes elicited in the laboratory usng the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) will differentially predict sexual versus non-sexual outcomes. Data collection for this project is finished and analyses are under way. Our findings to date suggest that risk-taking for erotica using the BART predicts sexual outcomes, but risk-taking for money does not.